%%Image Pickin' thread did not produce a replacement page pic: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=cydjlz7w3q047mwtc3qbwhl1&page=1%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

Sometimes, instead of allowing the player to face a VideoGame boss directly in battle, the game will instead present the battle as a non-interactive sequence or cutscene. This has a few advantages, in that by removing the player's skill from the equation, the battle can achieve a specific outcome using strict choreography -- fully rendered CGI cutscenes can apply their CutscenePowerToTheMax, with the player and/or boss executing [[RuleOfCool awesome acrobatic feats]] that would not otherwise be possible in an actual, in-game battle.

On the other hand, if the player ''was'' expecting to engage the boss directly, seeing the battle play out with no input from them whatsoever can feel ''very'' anticlimactic, even more so than a ZeroEffortBoss.

This can be {{downplayed|Trope}} somewhat if the cutscene employs PressXToNotDie, allowing the player ''some'' interactivity even if they have no ultimate say in the battle's outcome (as in most cases, failing to hit the right button immediately fails the battle, forcing the player to try the sequence again).

Compare CoupDeGraceCutscene, where the BossBattle itself was fully interactive, but a cutscene is used to depict the killing blow. See also TheUnfought.

----!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Action Adventure ]]* In ''[[{{Spectrobes}} Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals]]'', at the end, [[spoiler: you defeat Krux's two true dark spectrobes, he then summons a bigger true dark spectrobe, which is defeated by the emergence of the Ultimate Spectrobe Tindera from its previously broken Geo. You then face Krux himself. [[AnticlimaxBoss He's pitiful]]. [[SequelHook But you don't actually kill him.]] ]]* In ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', Alice and the [[HeelFaceTurn Hatter]] found themselves face-to-face with a steampunk HumongousMecha. Hatter was swiftly caught by a hook and suspended in mid air off-screen, and the player expects a difficult boss fight alone against the mecha. Suddenly, just as the mecha was going to flatten Alice, [[spoiler: a giant tea-pot falls onto it and destroyed the entire mecha. Then, the Hatter nimbly and unflinchingly lands in front of the carnage...]]* Near the end of ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'', you finally face off one-on-one against General Scales. As soon as you draw your weapon, the battle gets interrupted by a cutscene where Scales is unceremoniously offed [[spoiler:and the game is [[HijackedByGanon Hijacked by Andross]] for the finale]].* ''VideoGame/{{Messiah}}'': The battle with [[spoiler:Father Prime.]] The cutscene shows Bob ([[BodySnatcher possessing]] a [[GiantMook Behemoth]]) approaching the boss, dodging his laser beam and slaying him with one blow. You could argue that the true challenge lies in possessing the none-too-cooperative Behemoth in the first place. * In ''Videogame/AsurasWrath'', [[spoiler:[[TheStrategist Kalrow]], [[SissyVillain Sergei]] and [[TheDragon Olga]]]] are disposed of in cutscenes, though the former at least gets a QTE. Somewhat justified in that they seem to be more military commanders rather than warriors like the other deities.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Action Game ]]* ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series:** At the end of ''VideoGame/TombRaiderUnderworld'', [[spoiler:Natla]] dies in a cutscene after you disable her doomsday machine.%% ** Larson in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary''.%% ** [[spoiler: Himiko]] in 2013's ''[[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 Tomb Raider]]''.* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' used this trope for the Harley Quinn confrontation. After all the build up involving taking down an army of her {{Mooks}} she was taken down in a cutscene. Perhaps to avoid the dreaded sight of [[WouldntHitAGirl Batman hitting a girl]].** Three times in the sequel, ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''. The first is Bane, who is involved in one of the optional subplots. The most glaring and frustrating is [[spoiler: Hugo Strange, since he's effectively the main villain of the story (or at least TheHeavy).]] The other is [[spoiler: The Joker]], but that's not quite as bad, because by the time you find that out, you ''did'' fight him, [[spoiler: it just wasn't the ''real'' Joker.]] There are numerous borderline examples who are taken out with little effort, but whether they count - and whether the challenge of ''getting'' to them makes up for it - is a matter of personal opinion. There is also [[spoiler: Ra's Al Ghul]], who turns out to be [[spoiler: TheManBehindTheMan for Hugo Strange]], but like [[spoiler: The Joker]] you actually did fight him much earlier in the story, [[spoiler: and unlike the Joker, it was really him.]]** The Joker is this again in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins''. Batman fights him as a PostFinalBoss, with the real FinalBoss being [[spoiler:Bane, who has been supercharged with the Titan formula]]. It's possible to die to The Joker, but that requires letting him talk while pointing a gun at Batman's head. If you let him shoot you, [[TooDumbToLive you kind of have it coming]].** In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', once Batman has defeated his greatest fear [[spoiler:(The remaining taint of Joker's blood taking him over)]], Scarecrow's fear toxin no longer effects him. Scarecrow is defeated, injected with his own toxins, and turned over to the GCPD as a broken wreck without any player input whatsoever.* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar III'' has Hephaestus. His "godly possession" {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this, as it unlocks a cheat that automatically completes quick-time events for you.** Helios also. However, the worst offender for this trope in the game is Hera, who is literally killed in a regular cutscene with no player input whatsoever.* ''Final Zone II'''s BigBad, Ruman, is executed by Bowie in the [[AWinnerIsYou underwhelmingly short ending cutscene]].[[/folder]]

[[folder: Adventure Game ]]* Belial in ''VideoGame/{{Realms of The Haunting}}''. The first time at least...[[/folder]]

[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]* The ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series has almost nothing but this due to a casual pretense of realism (no one survives a full magazine of bullets to the chest, making any potential boss battle a very short affair by default). The best you can hope for when it comes to fighting a major villain is a quicktime event; fortunately, when this happens it is usually done very well. ** Al-Asad in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 1'' is brutally interrogated before being shot.** [[spoiler: General Shepherd]] from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', involving him stabbing the player Soap, getting into a fight with Price, and Soap must pull the knife out his chest and throw it at him. ** In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'', Makarov is beaten, falls through a glass floor, and is hung.** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' has a surprising aversion - if you catch up to [=DeFalco=] in the mission "Karma" before he escapes, you get to blast him in a straight-up firefight. [[RealityEnsues Naturally, he has as much health as a common mook]].%% ** Kravchenko in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps.''* ''Battlefield 3'''s final boss [[spoiler:Solomon]] ends up being the PressXToNotDie type of "QTE boss," who (other than in an in-engine cutscene with [[spoiler:a bound Jonathan Miller about to be executed]]) is only encountered in person in a few QTE sequences during the middle and the end of the final level (unless one counts [[spoiler:the first level which is a preview of the first half of the final level]]), all of which are of the PressXToNotDie variety. However, much like the above ''Call of Duty'' example, it's not necessarily a bad thing, as the sequence itself is pretty exciting, plus the final result ([[spoiler:Bashing Solomon's skull in with a brick]]) is quite satisfying, given what's transpired up to that point.* For two thirds of ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', you're hunting down Andrew Ryan, TheLeader of the underwater city in which you're trapped and perpetrator of many crimes against you and your MissionControl. [[spoiler:When you finally meet him, he uses the ArcWords on you in order to demonstrate how you've been {{brainwashed}}, [[PlayingWithPuppets demonstrates their chilling effect on you]] in a BreakingSpeech, and effectively ''commits [[SuicideByCop Suicide By Brainwashed Son]]'' while [[PunctuatedForEmphasis screaming his mantra in your face]], [[{{Deconstruction}} all in a non-interactive cutscene to show how hopeless and out of your own control you really are, while also affirming his Objectivist philosophy- if he's going to die, he'll die on his own terms, not Fontaine's.]]]] TropesAreNotBad-- it's ''extremely'' effective.--->"A man chooses! A slave obeys! OBEY!"** The game also deliberately prepares you for a boss battle by [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity leaving ammo and med kits lying around before you find him.]]* ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'':** Comstock is killed in a cutscene when Booker [[spoiler:beats him against his own baptismal font while screaming at him for all the horrible things he did to Elizabeth]]. Not really a spoiler, since we learn early on that he's an aged man with about half a dozen flavors of terminal cancer, and thus not particularly physically intimidating.** [[spoiler:Songbird]] is also killed in a cutscene, though in this case it's not Booker who does the deed. [[spoiler:Elizabeth teleports all three of them to the Rapture of ''Videogame/BioShock1'', but drops Songbird in the depths outside. Songbird's AchillesHeel is water pressure (being designed for high atmosphere, he had trouble with being even a dozen feet underwater), so he dies quite quickly at the bottom of the ocean]].* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':** The Prophet of Truth, the original trilogy's BigBad, is ultimately killed in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' in a cutscene; he doesn't even put up a fight and is ''already dying'' by the time the main characters reach him. Even the climactic fight leading up to him isn't particularly notable (other than the [[{{BFG}} Fuel Rod Cannon]] spamming Heavy Grunts). Of course, Creator/{{Bungie}} was never particularly good at handling boss fights (as ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' can attest), so some fans consider this forgivable.** Same goes to the [[spoiler:the Ur-Didact]] in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', who is taken out via a quick-time event.* In ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}'', after hearing about [[spoiler: the Angel]] for quite a while, you enter the room where one is being held... [[spoiler: only to open it and blast its brains out with a rifle in a cutscene.]]** [[spoiler:Mick Cutler, leader of The Warden]] in ''[[VideoGame/{{Resistance}} Resistance 3]]'', is fought with a lot of QTE button presses. Likely justified, as there's nothing about him (aside from the potential of AuthorityEqualsAsskicking) that would make him any stronger than a standard mook, so the cutscene fight gives him something special. That said, if this fight is encountered with a friend in co-op, the [=QTEs=] are removed, turning him into just a literal Cutscene Boss.* In ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening'', the game ends with the player discovering that [[spoiler: his boss, Sector Commander Hawkins, was the BigBad all along.]] [[spoiler: Hawkins]] gets quickly executed in a cutscene by a single pistol shot to the gut, although as an unarmed human officer it's not like he could have put up much of a fight anyway.* [[spoiler:Goldfinger]] in ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeRogueAgent''. [[spoiler:{{Justified}} in that he's set a trap for you, and doesn't know that you can control the OMEN from where you are.]]* The 2008 reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}'' at least handled this in a semi-original way that actually managed to be reasonably organic. The final fight with the BigBad is a QTE knife-fight (similar to the one from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' against Krauser), but failing a QTE doesn't kill you instantly, it just changes the fight slightly so that the flow of the fight goes against you instead of for you. The fight lasts several [=QTEs=], and varies quite a bit depending of which [=QTEs=] you win and which ones you lose.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gamebooks]]* In books 2 and 12 of the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' series, the fight with the BigBad is not played out at all if you have the InfinityPlusOneSword, as you see [[spoiler:the BigBad being wiped out in a blaze of holy fire!]][[/folder]]

[[folder: Mecha Game ]]* [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross Golg Boldoza]] in his appearance in ''[[VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode Another Century's Episode]] 2''. The entire final stretch of the game is dedicated to the climatic battle as seen in ''[[TheMovie Do You Remember Love]]'', and the final stage sees the player rushing through Boldoza's battleship for a final showdown. The player reaches the central core (courtesy of a [[KamehameHadoken Sekiha Tenkyouken]] from [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Domon Kasshu]]), and Boldoza... Simply screams ''"UWOOOOOOOOH!! PROTOCULTUUUUUURE!!"'' as the player and his wingmen unload their strongest weapons and attacks [[BoomHeadshot right in the face]], killing him instantly.** The final battle of ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', as depicted in ''Another Century's Episode: R'', is just as bad if not worse. The original ''Macross'' finale was depicted in [=ACE2=] as two stages of chaotic battle with the Zentraedi horde before the final stage as described above. ''Frontier'''s final battle is all one stage, consisting of three or four RailShooter sequences sandwiched between several long unskippable {{Cut Scene}}s (which spawned the infamous "[[GratuitousEnglish NOT SKIP MOVIE]]" or "NSM" [[MemeticMutation meme]] in Japan) that show the battle playing out almost exactly as it did in the original anime, complete with Alto finishing BigBad [[spoiler:Grace O'Connor]] himself. Overall, the impact of non-''Frontier'' characters is entirely negligible, which is ComicallyMissingThePoint of ''ACE'' (and its progenitor ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'').[[/folder]]

[[folder: MMORPG]]* ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'' has 2; The [[spoiler: V.P.]] falls off of the tallest skyscraper and the [[spoiler: C.F.O.]] tries to run away, but gets hit with his own trains.* The third form of The Naughty Sorceress in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' is effectively a non-combat adventure [[spoiler: that you either beat or lose to depending on whether you have the Wand of Nagamar in your inventory, made from a W, an A, an N and a D.]]* [[spoiler:Fahrad]] at the end of the Fangs of the Father questline in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', who is "fought" after turning in the last quest, which involves defeating [[FinalBoss Deathwing]] after completing all the previous quests.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Platform Game ]]* The Wii and [=PS2=] versions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' have you fight some Nightmares during cutscenes... by pressing a sequence of buttons.* The final leg of the Next-Gen ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' builds up to two dramatic confrontations -- Groeder and [[spoiler: Super Joe]]. Groeder lives up to the build-up... but [[spoiler: You beat Super Joe in a cutscene after a neat PressXToNotDie sequence to get to him.]]** Similarly, earlier on in the game you enter a circle of statues that practically promises a boss fight. Instead, a cutscene boss is defeated, non-interactive, and the protagonist just walks away not having done any fighting during the level.* After going through the final stage in ''Film/GhostbustersII'' four times (one for each Ghostbuster), you are in front of Vigo... and automatically shoot him repeatedly until he goes down.* The final boss in ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' gets a lot of show, screaming at you and flying around as you try to climb a tower while lava advances, and various obstacles are summoned in your way. Then once you get to the top...[[spoiler: the heroes separate, and The Knight hits the boss in the head with the hammer in a cutscene.]] Cue WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue.* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' has quite a bad habit of {{Anticlimax Boss}}es, with only one out of three presenting any prolonged effort. However the first one is 100% PressXToNotDie; he's a wrestler who comes charging at you with a pipe (in a cutscene), at which point you have a nanosecond to disarm him before he clobbers you and chucks you off a building (in a cutscene). When you finally get this right, you are treated (in a cutscene) to him falling off said building, catching the ledge, exchanging a few pleasantries with you [[ShootTheShaggyDog and getting shot by a sniper]].* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', despite being one of the main antagonists throughout most of the game [[spoiler: Doctor Loboto is unceremoniously knocked off a cliff by his own weapon in a cutscene. You never get to go into his mind, either.]]* Bob the Goldfish from ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim 2''. In the first game, he was [[ZeroEffortBoss easy enough.]] In this game, you get up to him, his final defences slide away revealing his bowl, letters come down declaring "FIGHT,"... and then Jim ''eats him.''* In the Colossus level of ''VideoGame/{{Spyro 2|RiptosRage}}'', you're told that you must kill a yeti that's been terrorising the inhabitants of the world. As soon as you step into its cage, it roars and stomps the ground...causing a statue to fall and crush it to death.* At the end of the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' clone ''VideoGame/ElViento'', the final boss is neither Bishop Henry, leader of the evil cult, nor [[EldritchAbomination Hastur]], the elder god they were trying to summon. Instead, once you kill the witch the cult was intending to sacrifice to summon Hastur, the cult's plans are foiled and Henry is shown led away in chains.* In ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', [[spoiler: the final boss fight with MB]] takes the form of one very brief FPS segment - ''aim at'' the boss and Federation soldiers storm in and finish the job.* The SNES ''Videogame/{{Alien 3}}'' builds up to a confrontation with the Alien Queen, but when you actually reach her there's just a cut scene of Ripley forcing her into a smelting vat. AWinnerIsYou!* The Joker is this in the beta version of ''VideoGame/{{Batman|Sunsoft}}'' for the NES. After you defeat one of his cronies at Gotham Cathedral, you watch a cutscene of Batman punching the Joker and the credits roll. The Joker is upgraded to FinalBoss in the final version of the game.%% * Bowser in ''VideoGame/MarioIsMissing''.* In the first ''TyTheTasmanianTiger'' game the first fight against Sly is fun, frantic and ends with an ominous promise of a rematch. Said rematch conforms to this trope.* In the DS version of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, there's a particularly bad example. When you complete the first level of Episode III, It rushes through the scenes on Greivous' ship and shows a ''very'' short scene where Count Dooku dies. It's just the beheading. That's all.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Puzzle Game ]]* One of the earliest {{Cutscene Boss}}es has to be "the Great Devil" of the puzzle game ''The VideoGame/AdventuresOfLolo''. You only get to see him during the ending cutscene, in which he is seen standing completely still and grinning like an idiot. Lolo shoots a projectile at him, encasing him in an eggshell. Lolo then shoots another projectile, and the egg goes flying off into the distance. Thus, the Great Devil is revealed to be a OneHitPointWonder, and the day is saved. (The sequels avoided this by including actual boss battles with bosses that, you know, ''fight back.'')* The NES game ''Solstice'' concludes with the main character automatically defeating the BigBad with the restored Staff of Demnos.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]%% * [[spoiler: Vharley]] in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''.* The first ''VideoGame/DarkCloud''. In a game featuring several important cutscenes [[PressXToNotDie requiring timed button presses]], it may come as a surprise when the main character uses the Moon People's [[GiantMecha Sun Giant]] to take on the [[BigBad Dark Genie]] entirely without player interaction. [[spoiler: And shortly before discovering that you were just FightingAShadow, with the real Dark Genie about to [[NowItsMyTurn return the favor]].]]* In ''ValkyrieProfile'', [[spoiler:Surt, the leader of the Vanir, becomes this if the player [[GuideDangIt manages]] to lock themselves on the path to the [[GoldenEnding A Ending]]. Here, Loki, after gaining his true form with the Dragon Orb, kills him in one shot and prepares to destroy Midgard after stealing Jotunheim's treasure.]] If you played the game normally and [[NonStandardGameOver didn't mess up]], Surt is the actual FinalBoss.* The first of the Arcana Shadows in ''{{VideoGame/Persona 3}}'', Arcana Magician, is this, serving as a catalyst for the protagonist to summon his/her initial Persona, Orpheus [[spoiler:(and Thanatos)]] for the first time. You fight two small remnants of the Shadow after it dies, but they die in one hit, making it a ZeroEffortBoss.* At the end of ''VideoGame/LunarDragonSong'', you've gone three rounds with TheDragon and ''finally'' killed him, avenging a party member he killed earlier. It's time to fight the powerful BigBad and save Lucia. And after a dramatic cutscene with him... [[spoiler:[[RocksFallEveryoneDies earthquake]]! Ignatius falls down a pit and that's all she wrote. TheDragon was the final boss, which is why he was so persistent.]]* Ephidel, the apparent Dragon, from ''FireEmblem'' 7 lived just long enough for you to meet his boss, BigBad Nergal, before getting offed in a cutscene. Every other high-ranking Fang gets faced at ''least'' once ([[spoiler:except for the one that does a HeelFaceTurn]]), but Ephidel, who canonically is probably Nergal's second-most powerful morph, gets killed by a cutscene, pathetically screaming for Nergal to help him. Hacking the game reveals he doesn't even have stats programmed in. (While several less important [=NPCs=] do)* [[spoiler:Saren]] from ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' is potentially a cutscene boss. If the player's persuasion skills are high enough, he can be convinced to commit suicide during the cutscene that takes place before the boss battle, completely avoiding the [[spoiler: second-to]] final battle.%% ** [[spoiler: Amanda Kenson]] from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''.** [[spoiler: Vido Santiago]] on the Renegade path through Zaeed's loyalty mission.** [[spoiler:The Illusive Man]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. Depending on your previous choices, [[spoiler:he can be convinced to shoot himself or you will have to shoot him yourself.]]* In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', three [=WEAPONs=] are released, and two are killed in cutscenes. In the International version, a fight against Diamond WEAPON is added to the game (as well as two more optional [=WEAPONs=] that can be fought by the player), but Sapphire WEAPON is still killed in a cutscene.* [[spoiler:Roxas]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. The UpdatedRerelease upgrades him to a full-fledged DuelBoss. Additionally there was [[Disney/PeterPan Captain Hook]] in ''358/2 Days'' as well as [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Queen]] and [[Disney/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] in ''Birth by Sleep'' and [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Frollo]] in ''Dream Drop Distance''.* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', immediately following a two-part WarmupBoss battle as Lightning against Chaos Bahamut, you're treated to a Cutscene Boss fight against BigBad Caius, with some a few quicktime events thrown in.* [[spoiler:Admiral Alfonso]] and [[spoiler:Empress Teodora]] in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', with both being a part of TheEmpire and all. You actually fight [[spoiler:Alfonso]] in a ship fight and two of his more dangerous {{Mooks}}, but given that he's a SmugSnake and can apparently fence judging from the cutscenes, it's infuriating to [[spoiler:see him die during the [[ApocalypseWow Rains of Destruction]] via crushing by a pillar.]] It's more implausible with [[spoiler:Teodora]] because she never actively does anything.** Rhaknam is briefly fought by the Little Jack in Valua, but there's no boss battle against him.* Sebastian [=LaCroix=] in the ending of ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' after you kill his [[TheDragon dragon]] the Sheriff: He simply isn't much for combat, and first tries his CompellingVoice on you, and when that fails, falling to his knees comboed with whining and simpering. Depending on your ending, the main character may [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown take this opportunity to give LaCroix a physical evaluation of his management style.]] [[spoiler:You don't get to kill him in the end: Either Ming Xiao or Strauss takes him away for execution, or the contents of the Ankharan Sarcophagus does him (and potentially you) in.]]* At the end of ''Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun'', you don't kill the Burrower that had driven Duke Hector Barrik and his people insane. You just have to reach the [[EldritchAbomination Burrower's]] lair and use a scroll to summon the Immortal [[BigGood Ka the Preserver]] and he kills the Burrower. Justified in that Burrowers are pretty much invincible by any other means.** The real final boss of this game is the pyrohydra that your party fights just before the Burrower. The pyrohydra itself can be a bit of an AnticlimaxBoss despite being able to spam attacks that reliably hit characters of maximum armour class due to the amount of space in the dungeon it's fought in.%% * The Adephagos in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''.%% * Dias in ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria''.%% * Alakazam's team in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon''.* Gestahl in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' - you're going to fight him? Nope, WhamEpisode. The -real- BigBad does him in in a cutscene.* Subverted at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', right at the bottom of the lunar subterrane, when the party comes face to face with [[spoiler:[[BigBad Zemus]], a cutscene starts and Zemus is killed by a former player character and an NPC. But before the victory can be celebrated, the embodiment of Zemus' hate attacks the party, providing a suitably brutal final boss fight.]]* Subverted with Orias in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''. He is fought by Commander Gore in a cutscene, and Orias surrenders and goes away...[[spoiler:but it's a trick, as he delivers a fatal attack to Gore shortly afterward]]. After this happens, you fight an (injured) Orias. * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' does it for dramatic effect with Jhil. A battle with her got a lot of buildup, but she gets brushed aside from the BigBad. She can be challenged in the sequel as DLC though.* Mull, The BigBad of ''VideoGame/AtelierIrisEternalMana'', is presented in the final room in the game summoning a SealedEvilInACan which [[EvilIsNotAToy immediately kills him]] once the battle scene begins. * The final boss of ''VideoGame/CitizensOfEarth'' is a one-on-one fight between the Vice President of Earth, who up until then had been relying on his citizens to do the fighting, and [[spoiler:the Misery Machine]]. The VP has only one attack, his smile, and whenever his HP drops too low a cutscene plays where the citizens cheer him on , which fully heals him.* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has this with [[spoiler: Asgore in the True Pacifist run. Considering the fact you '''already''' fought him in the Neutral Route, that is to be expected.]] The Genocide path, though, [[spoiler: has the battle with Asgore starting after Sans is beaten, but Chara decides, "Oh, it's the end? Better make this one quick!" and one-shots Asgore. That's not all. Flowey kills Asgore, and then destroys the soul. Flowey then pops up and then begs Chara not to kill Flowey. But Chara just kills Flowey with multiple hits. That is when Chara talks to you after all of this.]]* The Clumsy Robot in ''VideoGame/EarthBound''. After it spends most of the battle wasting turns, occasionally firing missiles and [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext eating bologna sandwiches]], the jazz band Runaway Five burst into the room and stop the robot by finding an off switch on its back.** ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' has a very similar situation towards the end of the game. [[spoiler:The protagonists are faced by [[WolfpackBoss the Mecha-Porkies]], which [[WeHaveReserves another showing up every time you beat one]]. And then, just like the [=EarthBound=] example, the mambo band DCMC shows up and smashes the remaining Mecha-Porkies for you.]][[/folder]]

[[folder: Sports Game ]]* In ''[[VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater Tony Hawk's Underground]]'', if you play through Sick difficulty after beating the story mode on Normal, the cutscene leading up to your ultimate showdown with archrival Eric Sparrow is itself the entire battle. No, seriously. You smash his face in and take the tape, you did it, you won, no skate-off. Admittedly, this is kind of a fitting way for a guy like Eric to go down.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Stealth Based Game ]]* ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}: Fatal Shadows'' had a boss who could either be fought normally if you finished the level through one door, or who you killed in one hit in a cut-scene if you finished the level through a different door. Considering the boss is ThatOneBoss who continually spams attacks which knock off a good portion of your health, being able to kill him in a cut-scene was a relief. (Although it earned you less points.)** The original Tenchu had the corrupt minister. Ayame would insult him then proceed to fight him normally, but if you were playing as Rikimaru, he'd convince the minister to [[spoiler: die with honor and commit {{Seppuku}}]].* In the endgame of ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' you shoot down General Keck's spider ship, defeat his bodyguards, and get ready to confront him - only to find him dying in the cockpit of the ship.* ''VideoGame/{{Assassins Creed III}}'' provides four of these:** When you are forced to kill [[spoiler:Kanen'tó:kon]], there's no battle at all, just a cutscene followed by PressXToNotDie. This in a way makes it all the sadder.** The battle against [[spoiler:Haytham]] is played out, albeit with [[ImpairmentShot blur and stagger effects]] because of Connor's injury. However, its resolution becomes another PressXToNotDie.** You chase [[spoiler:Charles Lee]], fully expecting a climactic battle at the end, but then a cutscene occurs wherein Connor, again injured, shoots him. Even then, you have to follow him in order to finish him off, which takes place in yet another cutscene.** Likewise [[spoiler:Warren Vidic, the main villain of the FramingDevice story,]] also meets his end in a yet another PressXToNotDie scene.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Survival Horror ]]* The first encounter with Krauser in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' plays out entirely with a PressXToNotDie cutscene of a knife fight between the two of them. It's actually done fairly well, and you get a proper battle against him a little later on.** Similarly, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' has you do essentially the same thing against [[spoiler:Wesker after you hitch a ride onto his bomber]], only this time, there are two characters and potentially two players, which means more potential for one of you to HaveANiceDeath.* ''Videogame/DeadSpace2'' does this for several of its human antagonists. [[spoiler:Stross, after he goes insane,]] is killed in a single [[PressXToNotDie button mashing sequence,]] while the battle with [[spoiler:Teidemann]] requires you to mash twice before Isaac kills him in one shot with his own Javelin Gun.** More interactive and unbelievably cooler is the action sequence that follows [[spoiler:reaching Daina at the end of Chapter Five. Wham - she's a Unitologist who wants you to build Markers for her. Wham - Gunship blows out the window and gibs her! Button mash or get ThrownOutTheAirlock! AirVentPassageway escape! Then a giant Necromorph shows up, more than capable of squishing you in seconds! It starts shredding the scenery! Shoot it in the weak point for massive damage! All you did was piss it off! Run away! Gunship again, windows blown out, no handholds so out the airlock you go! You latch onto the gunship - and so does Necromorph Kong! ShootTheFuelTank! Then you [[ExplosionPropulsion ride the blast]] back into the station, dust yourself off and walk away.]] Whew. Isaac Clarke is a monster truck that walks like a man.* ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}'' has a lot of bosses in this manner. [[DeadlyDoctor Trager?]] Busts into the elevator you're in, only for you to shove him out and have him squished between the floor outside and the descending elevator. [[ImplacableMan Chris Walker?]] Pureed in an airvent. [[StalkerWithACrush Gluskin?]] Impaled on a piece of rebar as he tries to hang you. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jeremy Blaire?]] Ripped apart by the Walrider. Though Trager, Walker, and Gluskin are justified when you remember that you're just an investigative journalist/technician, and they're... well, [[AxCrazy completely insane]].* ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'' downplays this with [[spoiler:Judge Holloway]]; it's literally two ButtonMashing contests back to back (using this game's version of PressXToNotDie). Succeed in both, and the boss dies. Fail in either, and [[PlayerCharacter Alex]] dies instead (the second time, by the same fate he would inflict on his adversary if he had succeeded).[[/folder]]

[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]* ''{{VideoGame/Wet}}'''s final boss battle with [[TheDragon Tarantula]] and [[BigBad Pelham]] turns out to be just [[PressXToNotDie a series of quick-time events]]. A sad departure from the intense gameplay of the rest of the game, and a serious letdown considering the RoaringRampageOfRevenge that Rubi was pretty much on for much of it.* ''{{Mercenaries}} 2'' has the main bad guy of the story, Ramon Solano, military dictator of Venezuela, who betrayed and attempted to kill you after you helped him by staging a coup that puts him in power, hide in a heavily fortified bunker that requires a tactical nuclear weapon to pierce, after which you go straight to an ultra lame boss battle that requires a bunch of [[PressXToNotDie Quick Time Events]] that destroy the helicopter he's in and that's it. Considering how the first game had you take on the best of the best of the North Korean Army, fighting massive waves of tanks and helicopters before defeating the top North Korean General, the boss battle in ''Mercenaries 2'' is a major disappointment.* ''RedFaction II'' has one that is kind of similar to ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' but with less symbolism. You play as a soldier whose squad defects to the rebellion to take down the dictator Sopot. When you finally get to him it turns out that Authority doesn't Equal Asskicking. In fact he's unarmed. In the cutscene the protagonist holds him at gunpoint and escorts him to a catwalk under a launching rocket. Then your commanding officer reveals that he only wanted to overthrow Sopot to take his place and now you have to fight your way to him to have a real boss fight.* In ''VideoGame/WinBack'', the BigBad Kenneth is killed in a cutscene by TheStarscream Cecile a couple levels before the end.* [[GeneralRipper General Randall]] is the leader of [[ArmiesAreEvil Blackwatch]], the GovernmentConspiracy behind all of the mayhem in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. When [[SociopathicHero Alex]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction Mercer]] finally catches up to Randall, he delivers a brief tirade and then [[IAmAHumanitarian consumes]] the general effortlessly. Which makes sense, given that Alex is able to take on entire batallions or infected hordes singlehandedly and win, and Randall's a middle-aged, one-armed man.* The final fight in ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' is an interesting example, as it's primarily a series of quick-time-event mini-cutscenes, but they're context-sensitive and mixed into a normal gameplay fistfight (basically every 2 or 3 punches triggers a [=QTE=] cutscene). It's like they took the final fight from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' and made it even more [=QTE=] heavy.* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'', there's Neves (the leader of Crachá Preto) who [[spoiler: holds Max at gunpoint and then gets shot by Passos]], his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Milo Regos who is defeated by PressXToNotDie and [[spoiler: Victor Branco]] who you don't fight in person, only blow up his plane from underneath him and then have a conversation.* In ''VideoGame/AlanWakesAmericanNightmare'', Mr. Scratch is somewhere between this trope and {{The Unfought}}, depending on how much symbolism you allow before something stops being a "fight".[[/folder]]

[[folder: Wide Open Sandbox ]]* ''TrueCrimeNewYorkCity'' has two ending paths. In the "good" ending path, you don't even fight the BigBad, you just chase him through a subway car until a cutscene plays of him dying in a train wreck.* Sheffield from ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' seems to be a tough opponent when he is introduced from a distance, armed with a bazooka whose power players probably are well-acquainted with. However, when Tony confronts him proper, he gives in without resisting.* [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] parody Helter Skelter of ''Videogame/NoMoreHeroes'' is killed by Travis in the intro. An E3 demo did feature the actual fight, and the sequel starts off with a fight against his brother, Skelter Helter.** [[spoiler:Letz Shake]] is also killed by [[spoiler:Henry]] before you get to fight him, though [[spoiler:he returns in the sequel for a proper fight]].%% * [[spoiler:Phillipe Loren]] in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''.[[/folder]]----